By Mary Wicks and Peter Ling Growing plants, whether for food or landscapes, is not easy. There are so many variables that can go wrong. Growing crops in a g
Trinchero Trials New Smart Sprayer Control System
Trinchero Family Estates in Lodi. Photo: Ted Rieger
A Smart Guided sprayer system with LiDAR scanning unit on the front of a John Deere 4X4 utility vehicle serves
as a system demo unit for the new technology. Photo: Ted Rieger
Trinchero Family Estates (TFE) is performing trials this year in Lodi area vineyards with a new smart guided sprayer control technology designed to increase spray application efficiency, reduce chemical use, and save growers spraying costs. This technology was developed by U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) scientists and engineers over a decade of research and field testing funded through the Specialty Crops Research Initiative. Systems are now being used in commercial agricultural applications nationwide. TFE is one of the first California vineyards to use the system and hosted the first grower field demonstration in a California vineyard May 20th in conjunct